Mathletics

Description

From the author of 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know, a companion volume. * How can sprinter Usain Bolt break his world record without running any faster?* Why do high-jumpers use the Fosbury Flop? * What's the best strategy for taking penalties in football? * What statistical advantage do left-handed boxers have over their right-handed opponents? * And did you know that gymnasts can experience stronger g-forces than roller-coaster designers are allowed to create? John D. Barrow shows how maths can give us surprising and enlivening insights into the world of sports - essential reading for competitors, armchair enthusiasts and maths-lovers alike.

John D. Barrow is Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University, Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the current Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London. His principal area of scientific research is cosmology, and he is the author of many highly acclaimed books about the nature and significance of modern developments in physics, astronomy, and mathematics, including The Origin of the Universe, The Universe that Discovered Itself; The Book of Nothing, The Constants of Nature, The Infinite Book- a Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless, The Artful Universe Expanded, New Theories of Everything, Cosmic Imagery and The Book of Universes.

This is a really interesting and original premise that will certainly make you think again about what you know about sport and perhaps make you watch it in an entirely new light -- J Craddock * Nudge *